October 24, 2007

October 20, 2007

For most people, the Sex Pistols were punk rock. We loved the Pistols but I never connected with them the way I did with The Ramones, or The Clash or even The Buzzcocks. The Pistols were one of the few influential bands of the time that I didn’t see live and I think that always made them a bit more of an abstraction for me. Punk was so much about the live experience it was harder to identify with a band you hadn’t seen live.

Now we would have seen the Pistols live had they come anywhere near Canada. Malcolm McLaren (“The Manager” as Johnny refers to him) was determined not to do anything by the books and booked the first (and only) US tour in the deep south, playing dive bars and honky tonks rather than hitting the major urban centres that had already established punk scenes.

This footage was taken at CBGBs — the New York City dive where many of the NY punks got started.

I never got to see the Ramones at CBGBs but I was lucky enough to see them very early on at one of Toronto’s most famous dive bars — the El Mocambo.

The show was absolutely packed but we where there early enough to get a spot directly in front of the stage. So close we could see Joey’s face despite his eternal mop-top and downward glare.

Johnny dropped a pick at one point and I snapped it up. I’ve still got it in a box in the basement. Johnny knew a thing or two about posterity and was nice enough to have “RAMONES” inscribed on all his picks making for instant memorabilia.

I just finished Douglas Coupland’s latest novel “The Gum Thief”. The novel was a light, likeable read but the ending left me rather unsatisfied. Those new to Coupland’s funny but heavily stylized prose might do better to start with “Jpod” or “Microserfs”.

It was tradition at Clash concerts in the early days that they would end shows with White Riot. Fans would storm the stage, all hell would break lose. While I think you can find better video of The Clash in action, this footage gives you a sense of the frenzy and chaos that was a Clash gig.

A few weeks ago Lucy and I were in the car when she asked if I had The Clash on my iPod. Turns out she’s really getting into punk these days. We went from The Clash to The Ramones to Iggy Pop in about 10 minutes (all hail the three minute pop song) with both of us bopping in our seats with the windows down in the parking lot at the mall. We must have looked like demented bobbleheads.

Her interest got me thinking about Punk and what a profound influence it has had on my life. Punk Rock absolutely changed my life. It is surely one of the all time top five things that shaped me into who I am.

I’m not sure “the kids these days” know much about Punk though. Green Day seems to pass as Punk and I guess from 2007 that make some sense. But there was Punk. There was the Punk that shaped me. And I feel like sharing it with any of you who might be interested.